HM Revenue & Customs has released details of a £250 million VAT fraud that generated its money from the supposed import and export of mobile phones. A number of people were arrested in July 2003, with the first sentences being handed down in 2008, although reporting restrictions prevented details of the crimes being published at the time.

Fifteen people have now been sentenced in six separate trials.

Mark Bridge writes:

Flash is dead, HTML5 is the future. Okay, the next stage in the evolution of the mobile browser isn’t that clear – but a restructure at Adobe has pretty much marked the end of mobile Flash development.

Nigel Cranswick, a former policeman from South Yorkshire, has been jailed for over ten years today for his part in an attempted £330 million VAT fraud. He and six others, including his sister and brother-in-law, were caught by investigators from HM Revenue & Customs.

They’d set up a business called Ideas 2 Go Ltd and falsely claimed they’d generated billions of pounds in turnover selling mobile phones and computer software.

The nine men jailed in December 2010 and January 2011 after a £17 million ‘missing trader’ VAT fraud have been joined by four more men.

A further defendant has been charged and is due to stand trial next year.

Five men from London, Berkshire and Gloucester have been jailed this week for a total of 37½ years after failing to pay £140 million tax in a 'missing trader' VAT fraud. The investigation began in October 2005 and resulted in a series of court cases that started last December.

Four of the men each set up their own limited company, most of which only traded for a few weeks, while the fifth dealt with administration.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

The team debate the pros and cons of regulation, review the Nokia 8600, bring you the latest news from the past 7 days, and look at some software for keeping your data safe and easy to access on your mobile.

The Fonecast has teamed up with Mobile News to bring you the latest news in the mobile industry, review the Motorola RAZR2 and review the best mobile software in the form of "Skill Ball Bingo" and "Best Full Screen Caller". Also the team ask "Have Vodafone and Orange killed Mobile Voice-over-IP?"

This week the team debate the number of Operating Systems for mobile phones, review the Motorola MOTO Z8, bring you all the latest news headlines and even find time to review Worms 2007 and Mobile Spy.

The team debate the merits of the Mobile Internet, bring you mobile news from the past 7 days, review the Orange SPV M700 and Sony Ericsson P1i, plus look at X-Men Genetix and Total Recall mobile software.

This week the team debate consolidation in the UK mobile industry. Plus review the Goldfish X800 and BlackBerry Curve, and take a peek at America’s Cup Mobile Racer and SBSH Facade. All this plus the latest mobile news, from our mouth to your ears!